Dinner

Roughly 50 ten year olds at the Rainforest Cafe.

Errands

Cathy Amy and I decided to run to the bank, Captian D's, Target then picked Tommy up from his school.

Bus Loading

Rapidly herding 5th graders onto the buses to go to Nashville.

Loose some panties?

All this time that you thought your dryer was eatting socks and panties, it was actually a 55 year old man in Japan.

Coincidence or Produced and marketed?

Someone has to be writing material for and help produce Andy Milonakis. Here is a compilation of his videos on Angry Naked Pat. These all have fulgarity in them.

Jeff Goldblum is Watching You Poop

I'm not sure I completely understand this one yet but its got a bizarre off the wall twisted humor that I find somewhat appealing. It's more than that. It's that "I don't want to be looking at this but can't take my eyes off of it appeal." I think it's mostly the domain name. Regardless, first glaces declares this site "work safe"- nothing attrocious and no nudity. Jeff Goldblum is Watching You Poop!

Sweets for the Sweet

Amy just ran in the kitchen, looked to the top of the fridge, extended her hands and begged "my nandy! my nandy!" Her easter candy is in a bucket on top of the fridge.

A New Day!

Let's start the day off with a PayPal donation link:


This Morning
Had many moments of wanting to get up. Amy at midnight. Again I woke at 2, 4:30, 5 and finally got up at 6 but lay on the couch until 6:20 when I gave Tommy his medicine and then finally got up at 6:30 to get dressed and find the boys socks.

Took the kids to school then returned to find Amy, Cathy and Tommy waiting for his bus. His bus is off and now I'm trying to find anything that requires a re-charge and make sure its battery is fully before I head off on the 5th grade field trip this weekend (3pm today).

Last Night
Got the kids fed, cleaned-up and in bed.

Watched "Kingdom Hospital" with the wife and "Futurama" of course.

Tommy's Turn with the Horses

Taking Tommy to STAR.

Horsing Around

An early morning phone call had me off to South Knoxville to the ranch for a full-filled morning of horseback riding. The beautiful weather had all the animals giddy. The dogs were jumpy and even Sally came up to me asking for a pet. The horses were full of energy racing up and down paddock. The horse I ride came into the barn for grooming very willingly but my friend's horse decided to play a little game of "catch me if you can!" We saddled up and headed out. Walking for the horses seemed out of the question. Every moment was trot or canter with perhaps a few gallops.

It's wonderful to live in such beautiful country. The sky was picture perfect. The mountains rose around us cutting off any noise civilization creates. The fields of hay blowing in the wind and the variety of wildflowers is just not something that you see everyday and is awe inspiring.

Another highlight of the trip was when a small aircraft flew over. We waved and it waved its wings back at us. Two entities physically separated and completely unrelated connected briefly by friendly gestures.

Overall the break relieved much stress and helped bring many things back into perspective.

Quoted for Clown Day

This electronic publishing mediium is certainly bizarre. My blog has been acknowledged in Ohio's Toledo Blade by Kevin Cesarz(thank you for the mention) for my Clown Day blog entry.

I was quoted in the Knoxville News Sentinnel! (that link may require a brief registration but its free and easy)

McCaughan, a computer professional, said the kids learn much more than just keeping several objects in the air.

"It's very good for the mind and the cardiovascular system. It also teaches social skills," he said. "You can't juggle without someone coming up and asking what you are doing."

A New Day!

Let's start the day off with a PayPal donation link:


This Morning
Held my wife most of last night and slept very well.
First bell 4:30-- had the gumption to get up but no the wherewithal
Second bell 5:00-- barely remember it
Third bell 6:00-- rose and woke the kids, Sarah immediately took to hiding under the warm blanket on the couch. I considered stealing it from her but instead went back to bed for "15 minutes"
Fourth bell 6:37-- sprang from bed, ran upstairs to find Sarah still under the blanket on the couch, Noah almost done with breakfast and an innocent "I keep telling her to get up," and gave Tommy his medicine and told him to rise. Then I return to the basement to get dressed. At 6:53 I'm upstairs urging everyone on. At 7:02 Tommy is still in bed and I tell him to have a nice day (this is when he typically starts to get dressed).

Picked up our carpool buddy, hand delivered a birthday invite to his mother, and gave him his report card which had been in the floor board of our other car for a week. I reminded the boys that Noah was no longer to be on his friend's roof. Again, do I deny him those simple pleasures? I know I did some wacky stuff.

Today's todo list:
finances - didn't touch them
pay hosting bill - didn't do that either
work on a personal website that got 650 spontaneous hits sunday - didn't touch it
submit my resume to several job possibilities - didn't do that either
put all local web developers contact info into ACT - nope
Buy a paper - I did that!

I shouldn't, but I'm going to bed.

These so totally rock! Emotions 2 gallery from http://www.worth1000.com/galleries.asp Thanks Dean and Jeni!

A personal favorite - Eden
Handcuffs very good
Bleeding rose exceptional!
Thinking of loved one - very touching when I first saw this my thoughts drifted to Cathy and I trying to name our baby.

Ran and got the two propane tanks refilled (that's the empty one from the grill and the empty reserve tank for when the one on the grill gets empty). Also checked with the tech at Cingular on a strange issue with my phone. I want to Internet research the problem before swapping the phone. Basically, the Motorola v400 I have will occasionally ring but the ring tone will be broken (silent pauses). When this happens I am unable to accept the call. I reproduced it from the house once and strangely enough while the cell phone continued to ring, the caller (the home line) entered voicemail. I'm hoping its a software issue and that a flash of the firmware resolves it.

Returned home and cooked some tasty hamburgers. Thanks to the wife for the good pattying. I timed the cooking by juggling torches. When the torches burned out, it was time to flip the burgers. And better exercise than lifting the 12 ounces of beer timer!

After eatting I rushed Noah to soccer practice and reminded him "no wrestling and no hanging on the goal posts" so as I approach the field I see him wrestling, later, the soft spoken Noah who I frequently have to command "speak up" is shouting "I wasn't trying to kick you in the nuts!", followed by some good spinning on the goal posts, a little more wrestling, and then as everyone did the team cheer "Go Yellowjackets!" Noah chimed "Go Yellow Butt Cracks!" He did kick the ball harder than ever and was very energetic in the practice. I'm so proud!

On the trip home Noah made no mention of the his urgent need so after he got cleaned up, the whole crew loaded up to go participate in Baskin Robbins free scoop day. I had one of those fun dad moments on the way to the mall by declaring in the car "to anyone older than 2, before you ask the question, the answer is 'no'". Having seen the carnival being setup in the mall parking lot earlier I knew exactly what was about to be begged for. Of course, given the challenge of figuring out a question, Tommy began chiming off a dozen questions all which the 'no' answer fit beautifully. Then, on que, Sarah screams "ew ew ew! Can we go to the carnival?!" A smile and a tear in my eye! Such poetry!

sidebar: I'd rather take an extended weekend to Cincinnati for Kings Island than waste money on these carnivals. However, when I lived in New Orleans we'd get one a season not a football field's length from my house. I went to them all. I feel some guilt denying my children but I also don't remember a 3 minute ride costing $5 a head. Dean can chime in at any time with my loss of birthday money on the nickle slide as he brought home bags of groceries from the more favorable games.

This is worth the read! It's just kind of thing I'd like to do when I'm 70! The old man, the mountain and the sea

The boat sits where it was built: on the side of a mountain beneath towering Douglas firs, 400 feet above sea level, six miles from a suitable boat launch.

Marketing to Teens Affects Their Attitudes

Take a look at the most recent PBTeen (PotteryBarn) catalog cover:
The guy is "mixing drinks" (alcohol reference) behind a bar. The bar is labeled "chill" with a bottle that looks distinctly like a "beer." The standing girl actually just looks like she is having a good time. The sitting girl is "beating her bongos" and is strategically placed so that she looks almost naked.

The poses are very intentional as the real catalog has slight differences than this online version and a forth person has either been photoshopped into the picture or was present for this alternative picture. The differences are very subtle so these exact poses are what the catalog wanted to present.

The party message and the necessity of "alcohol" or drugs to "chill" and "sex" to have fun are very clear. I know that sounds "paranoid parent" but its intended to be more of a pure criticism of their marketing approach.

Ran errands with the wife and Amy. Had a good time for the most part except when wife went psycho and called me psycho. Amy impresses everywhere she goes overflowing with cuteness and popping weird things out like "look, a baseball" yes, she said "baseball" Where'd she learn that?!

We picked up more birthday invites, dropped off stuff related to Cathy's projects, did some banking for me, reserved a meeting space for Cathy's zoo project wrapup, tried to see if my phone needs a firmware upgrade or a total replacement but the tech was too busy, bought new sheets, did some necessary shopping for the kids, and pet some puppies.

Then we came home and Sarah spent $165 on a $.35 milk and I tried to turn it into a "value of money" lesson and Sarah ended up in tears and Cathy got mad at me.

In today's Tennesse political news, Financial Commissioner declares state shouldn't have to pay for lava lamps This regarding TennCare.

TennCare doesn't need to be paying for items such as porch gliders, lava lamps and New Balance athletic shoes, state Finance Commissioner Dave Goetz told lawmakers yesterday — items that have been prescribed for enrollees.

Advocates for TennCare enrollees described Goetz's examples as ''over-the-top.''

Baby woke just as I was getting into my productivity gear. She is a woot and a half. I've left the television off this morning despite the temptation. She is a bit on the wild side this morning but having a great time with her toys. She and I both enjoyed some conversation and some waffles.

When she got up she removed the full diaper and immediately threw it in the diaper pail when I let her out of the bedroom. What a good baby! And soooo ready for potty training.

I love watching her play with her toys!

Mouths of Babes

Baby's sentences this morning:
"Look Dada. A truck!"
"I tripped"
"A waffle!"

Huffing - Canned Air

I had a question about my "canned air" reference. This is neat stuff. The chemical composition is 1,1,1,2-Tetrafluoroethane (at least in the Fellowes brand that I buy). It's a chemical under pressure that is typically used to blow dust out of computers. If you turn it upside down the chemical will spray out in liquid form and can freeze ants or be used to remove bubble gum stuck to something.

I found it interesting that when I bought this at Walmart I had to have an "age verification" which severely slowed me down at the self-serve checkout. This forum discusses the "blackouts" and "paralysis" caused by huffing canned air. Would You Know If Your Child Was "Huffing"? (scroll down to see article. Note 1999 publish date.)

    

We missed "Turn off your television week" It was April 19-25 2004. Perhaps next year we will strive to turn off the television for a week. Bookmark TV Turnoff Network and White Dot. White Dot claims that science has shown a relationship between toddlers that watch television and ADHD.

China 'Shocked' at U.S. Cold Shoulder in Space US does not rejoice the Chinese accomplishment of putting a man into space. Instead fears that their military controlled space program could pose a threat to the US.

Me thinks the US is starting to sound too paranoid.

Tommy's Stats

I still find these referrer stats so interesting. These are to Tommy's Blog.
21 Apr, Wed, 07:37:17 Yahoo: aspergers knoxville
21 Apr, Wed, 12:35:19 Google: asperger's impersonation
21 Apr, Wed, 13:45:37 Google: "every little thing" unexpectable
21 Apr, Wed, 22:59:34 Google: aspergers meltdown
22 Apr, Thu, 17:03:48 Yahoo: finally teenage autism
22 Apr, Thu, 22:38:25 Google: aspergers teenage
23 Apr, Fri, 01:44:13 Yahoo: Aspergers/reading
23 Apr, Fri, 05:47:14 Google: "spectrum fairness"
23 Apr, Fri, 09:59:58 Yahoo: racist and jennifer hudson
23 Apr, Fri, 12:02:07 Yahoo: psychology behind eatting disorder
23 Apr, Fri, 13:05:11 Google: asperger teenager girls
25 Apr, Sun, 17:08:01 Yahoo: teenage behavior hands in mouth
25 Apr, Sun, 17:40:37 Google: "teenage boy" "sent to bed"
25 Apr, Sun, 23:20:24 Google: "no such thing as asperger syndrome"
26 Apr, Mon, 00:43:31 Yahoo: apsie
26 Apr, Mon, 20:35:37 Google: teenage aspergers
27 Apr, Tue, 12:51:05 Yahoo: www.aspergers.com
27 Apr, Tue, 13:52:50 Google: dentist stuff is the hardest for these kids asperger
27 Apr, Tue, 17:08:11 Google: showed son to masterbate
28 Apr, Wed, 03:10:26 Google: Our Aspergers Teenage Boy

A New Day!

Let's start the day off with a PayPal donation link:


This Morning
This was one of those mornings I would have given body parts to keep sleeping. Now I did wake at 5am and was wide awake. Had I gotten out of bed I'd be writing a different story. I got the kids up at 6am and went back to sleep until 6:15 when I went up to give Tommy his medicine. Sarah had laid on the couch and sprang from it as I came up the stairs. Then I went to sleep again until 6:30 and I awoke with my head spinning, that kind of dizziness that only lying back down can resolve. I fought it and got dressed then stirred Tommy again at 6:35.

I am dreading today. I want to hide.

Last Evening
I rewarded my computer efforts with some yard work. I intended only to be an hour and ended up being 2 hours. I fixed another lawn mower. So that's 2 out of 3. The two push mowers both work (granted I think I still have a little tuning to do on the 2nd push mower). Now I just have to get the commercial walk (run rather) behind mower working. This is one that I can get a sled for and it does all the work. It's going to be a beast to get running again.

After getting the mower working I grabbed the pruning shears and machette and bush hogged the yard for a bit. Cleared a good bit of brush back and the red bellied woodpecker later thanked me by flying through its newly available flight path. The birdseed that has fallen to the ground has grown so tall that its starting to go to seed. I am certain that this is how the chipmunk found its demise since the cat could hide in that tall grass which was right beside the drainage pipe that the chipmunk lived in.

The evening was spent getting the kids to bed then watching most of a good movie with the wife.

Accomplishment!

I put a new (rather older) video card into the graphics production machine and was able to reboot it. If I can get the driver working with it once again I can do design work with that machine. I think to celebrate I will take an hour break to cut the grass in the lower lot in preparation for assembling Noah's soccer goal. Milestones and babysteps!

Nous sommes desoles que notre President soit un idiot. Nous n'avons pas vote pour lui.

Sales soar for "Idiot President" bag

The bag's designer... says he had no idea the inscription ... had been included on the bags' washing instruction tag.

Clients throughout the United States have flooded his offices in Seattle and Port Angeles with calls and emails to order for the bags...

Google has lots of advanced functionality but it doesn't jump off the page. I've known for a long time how to use google to search content within one of my own domains but that's not something the common searcher may realize. Soople comes to the rescue! With an easy to use interface, the advanced functionality of Google is now laid at your feet. Enjoy!

Keep your political facts straight Don't believe the ads until you've checked out the facts!

Youngest Pointer Sister faces drug charges (Cocaine)

No luck. Appears I've lost a decent video card. Hopefully one of my standbys will work.

Soldier and kids with sign and now make your own

Amy woke before the other kids left (6:50) but I left her to play in the room she and Sarah are sharing. I returned just before Tommy's bus came and I buried the chipmunk that the outdoor cat killed just as the bus arrived. That chipmunk was large. I hope that it wasn't the only one. I know I've regularly seen a chipmunk the entire time I've lived here. I much prefer the chipmunks, birds and snakes to the cat.

I got Amy dressed and she was eager to throw those clothes on. She told me "snap!" for each button. Noah had escaped to school forgetting his backpack and lunch so we took those to him and coincidentally got to see him in the hallway as we left the office.

Next she and I went to Kinko's where she helped me by watching for the copy to come out then handing it to me.

We then went to the post office and she handed the rebates that needed to be mailed to the post master then handed him the money for the stamps. She waved bye to everyone and kept large smiles the whole time.

After the post office she read me a story from her book as we drove to the Boy Scout store for day camp paperwork for Noah.

Then we shot over to Walmart and sent picture messages to Mom while we shopped for ant poison and canned air.

Overall a fantastic run of errands! The rest of the morning was spent detailing one of the computers whose video card may have gone bad. I got all the dust out (completely took it apart) and it almost looks new!

Mouths of Babes

Conversation this morning so far.
Amy seeing pictures on the wall identifies all the family members.
Since I am holding her and need to put her down I say "I am going to go get you some cloths, ok?" She nods her head with each syllable and slowly says "O....K..." with perfect enunciation.

A New Day!

Let's start the day off with a PayPal donation link:


This Morning
This is one of those mornings I really would have preferred to stay in bed. I was up at 5am and with almost no motivation I could have gotten up but I drifted back into a deep sleep with strange dreams. I dreamed of being in a lighting store (I think my friends owned) with really tall ceilings and all their displays too high to appreciate. They were giving me directions with road names that apparently I should have known but didn't. A 6 pack of coke played some kind of importance as it was forgotten at first and then I ran back in to recover half of it.

This morning I woke with soreness and a desire to do my stretching exercises but not on the hardwood floor. I am stressed over my inability to put dents into the insurmountable tasks in front of me. Albeit I had a great day yesterday with accomplishes and having worked all day in my office. I even made decisions on how to proceed with some marketing of myself to rapidly bring in some income but that all depends on my ability to revive the art computer.

I did 10% of what I had hoped to do today. I'm just melancholy right now.

Movie Web site stirs cloning controversy To promote the movie "Godsend" they have created a website called Godsend Institute that makes it sound like they have an active cloning laboratory and they never make any mention of the movie.

My biggest thrill is that the article mentions the website was built for roughly $10,000 which is about where I would have priced similar work. So at a time I question my pricing models, this is a nice boost to the ego.

Ortenberg calls the "Godsend" site "a million dollar idea" built for only about $10,000. ...

Rebates prepared. Just need to be photocopied and mailed. Will coordinate that tomorrow.

Next: Clean a bit.

Found this on Phlog.net while randomly checking out JayJDC's phone blog.

I am always telling friends about the future of cell phones and some of the cool things that are to come. Here's a writeup of the potential for putting television programming on an SD memory card and viewing it with your phone later. Special thanks to Camera Phone Report for the article.

"I counted only six beers, but who knows how many more there might have been. I don't remember." says man who sleeps though train running him over. It may be time to mend that drinking habit!

How horrific! Pain-Free Tot Is Menace To Herself The child feels no pain. Teeths through her fingers. Pokes her eyes and just doesn't know not to do it!

Motivation problem

Iraq adopts new flag, dropping slogan "God is Great". New currency to feature portrait of Bush, Jesus shaking hands Thanks to Fark for the headline!

I gave in and bought some Robitussin.

Martha Stewart, Kmart Amend Deal Somehow that just seems humorously desperate.

Wahoo! Client invoice created, recorded and sent!

Computer maintenance time all over the place.

"My life is a mess. I should be depressed but I'm havin' a good time!" - Paul Simon

Ah! I'm so on top of my finances! I don't use Quicken! I use MS Money!

Step 1: Use online banking to download all missing transactions in Quicken

I'm putting up with my cough so I don't waste time traveling to the store. In the office, at the computer, ready to work!

Words of Babes

"Dada, look kitty!"
"Dada, look fish!" (very clear on fish)
Upon me spraying the table with 409 "Dada, what doing?" I reply "Cleaning the table." She says "Clean d table"

My mind is reeling with various thoughts of how to rapidly bring in money. Instead of getting fixated on that, I need to bring Quicken to balance, send in my phone rebates, and invoice 1 client. If I accomplish all that, then I can work on new client aquisition.

A New Day!

Let's start the day off with a PayPal donation link:


This Morning
My cough is worse. I am certain Tommy has not be faking his cough. I hope this ends soon. I could not do a successful phone or in person interview right now to save my life. I run out of money this week and Sarah's class trip is at the end of the week. This sucks!

Got up this morning at 5 when I heard Amy fall out of the bed. Could not pull myself out of bed to help her back into her bed or do anything else until 5:45 when she started crying. Got her in bed and got Sarah up then I went back to bed until 6:15 when I got Noah up and gave Tommy his medicine. Then I went back and blogged Friday and Saturday.

Now off to carpool.

Backyard Rollercoaster

Build you own roller coaster in your back yard, The design employs the same principles as a theme park coaster so the car will not derail Our kids would be superheros to all the kids in the neigborhood! We certainly have the land for it and I've got the skills to build it!

Death to outsourcing! Outsourcing didn't pay off for Conseco "Insurance firm may be at forefront of trend by bringing jobs moved to India back to U.S."

Three years ago, when Conseco moved 800 jobs to India, its chief executive was clear that his pioneering outsourcing move was more than just cost-cutting.

These days, the insurer also may be a pioneer because it brought most of those jobs back to Indiana.

In 2001
CEO Gary Wendt says that buying India-based ExlServices will save Conseco up to $60 million a year and reduce turnover to less than 10 percent a year.

In 2002
With turnover in India at 200 percent and cost savings falling short, Wendt's successor, William J. Shea, sells ExlServices at a $20 million loss.

Don't get me wrong. I've even outsourced a project to Russia with success but also with a quick learning about the negative sides. I look forward to my industry (software) maintaining its quality of work and employee salaries by keeping jobs here in the states.

Got one of the 3 broken lawn mowers working and proceeded to even out the cutting Tommy had done with the weed eater.

Now heading out with wife and baby to see a health fair at the Jewish Community Center.

Pentagon angered by photos from military mortuary Yes! Let's just hide the fact that people are dying why don't we?

Fuel rod parts missing from nuclear plant
In unrelated news see Vermont Nuclear Scientists taking early retirements out of the country.

Vehicle to autonomous biped robot conversion for the Mini Cooper r50.

I first had the vision to build a robot while working as an engineer on the old Mini Coopers in the late 1960s. There were no real robots at the time of course, so it was purely science-fiction. But I always believed a robot would be the most natural complement to the automobile - a full biped, intelligent version having great strength, dexterity and a library of mechanical knowledge. I imagined a robot with the ability to repair vehicles, direct traffic and watch over high-accident crossroads to preempt accidents.

The movies are worth a watch

Tired of your kids? Auction them on Ebay! German 8 year old girl 'up for sale' on eBay

Three bids had reportedly been made by the time police removed the ad - the highest for 25.50 euros ($30.35).

"Jeep on Fire" by Troy H. Cheek Jeep owners have the coolest stories!

Virginia High School senior Mallory White has been suspended from school for the past 10 days – all because her cell phone beeped in class.

I understand that the policies are in place to allow for learning environment without distraction. However, ever since the digital watch came out, students have synchronized alarms to disrupt class in jest. Should we ban watches?
The cellphone will continue to shape our society. Already in S. Korea cellphones can be used to buy sodas from vending machines and groceries. So, do we ban cell phones? Or integrate them into the edication system teaching students how to research using WAP and creating opportunies with SMS allowing the student another means of interaction with the teacher?
I want my children to know technology, use it and push it to the limits. I like the idea that one day my daughter may send me a brief text message from school telling me of some significant accomplishment and me being able to send her a hearty congratulations back!

White said she felt that surrendering her phone to school administrators for six weeks – the other option for violation of the school policy – was too severe, so she chose to miss 10 days of school instead.

I know our middle school policy is that if a phone comes to school it is removed from the student and the parent must come pick it up. The 2nd offense the school gets to keep the phone. I'm sorry. If I have invested in a phone for my child the school will not sudden de facto own it!

Stress Bear Prepare for hours of endless fun! A new tool each time you pass over the bear!

I find this terribly humorous! Murfreesboro has a tourism page!

Mork moved! Careful what you agree to!

Kay Oltmans told the newspaper earlier that year that she never expected the attention - fans almost daily knocking on the door, asking for tours and peering in windows at all hours - when she agreed to let the exterior of the house be filmed.

A New Day!

Let's start the day off with a PayPal donation link:


This Morning
Getting behind on things makes it difficult for me to do things meaning I get further behind. I was too busy to blog yesterday at the moments I had to blog I didn't have time to do so completely so I just didn't do. This is a trap! A trap that will get me in much trouble.

Tommy is the only child here so Cathy and I were able to sleep in. Time to check on him.

A New Day!

Let's start the day off with a PayPal donation link:


This Morning
I don't remember much of Sat except that we went to a park in the afternoon and at the very end Amy felt and landed her temple on a metal spike that is used to hold part of the equipment together. It goes into the ground and looks like an oversized carriage bolt. Time had wiggled it above the plastic. She got a nasty goose egg but the bump came out instead of in and it healed quickly.

The grandparents took all the kids except Tommy returning the girlscout on their way home. Cathy and I had a very pleasant evening together and got to sleep in on Sunday!

Circus

We took the girlscouts and family to the circus. There were 13 of us and it was terrific! The clown that blew bubbles with his hands was very interactive with us blowing a square bubble for Tommy. Amy was not scared of the clowns at all but needed frequent walking breaks away from all the noise. Everyone had a great time. Even I didn't mind spending $40 on cokes and hotdogs! The circus had the heat up and added extra salt to the popcorn in a blatant attempt to sell more drinks. This circus was energetic and overall had one fantastic performance after another. Our seats were perfect.

The boys went with the grandparents to spend the night. We dropped one of the girlscouts off at her house and another one came home with us to spend the night.

Came out of a 2.5 hour IEP at Tommy's school. The goal was supposed to be to get a clear definition of Tommy's placement for high school. At the end of the meeting 5 minutes was spent describing the lack of placement options in the high school, the infelxibility in the main stream teachers and their unwillingness to work with special needs children, and the fact that Tommy will spend most of his time in a CDC classroom with extreme behavior problem children. The administration did not write a thing down on the paper as this was described. The nice politicians are very good about creating only the "proper" paper trial. It's lawsuit time!

Sick kids

School nurse called. Time to go pickup Noah. Symptoms. 99 degree fever, headache and stomach ache. Hmm. Wasn't Tommy complaining of headache and stomach ache while earlier in the week Cathy, Amy and I all had bad stomaches?

Must go pickup Noah and get back here in time to research TCL before my phone interview in half an hour.

A New Day!

Let's start the day off with a PayPal donation link:


This Morning
This morning the backs of my tights thighs are so sore it almost hurts to touch them.

Tommy had me up at 5am and although I was fully awake I could not resist the urge to return to bed. I arose again at 6:08 to get the kids going. The morning went smoothly and I even returned in time to see Tommy off to his bus.

This day is going to be fun. The first part of the morning has to be planning for the IEP, confirming there is not a conflict with the recruiters and if not doing a phone interview, and then the actual IEP. That is all before lunch. After lunch I have to rent a drain snake and get this bathroom sink working well so that the 3 teenage girls that will be sleeping here tonight have running water. Additionally, I have to get the whole upstairs scrubbed. Sometime around 5pm all focus has to change to getting our crew out the door for the circus with the girlscouts tonight. Um.. yes, a computer needs to be repaired and something needs to be done to earn some money (guess I'm buying more lottery tickets :) )

Wife Time

Cathy and I shared conversation and watched an episode of Futurama that both of us had somehow never seen before. Sleep came quick.

Casino

To help return the favor the entertainment company is giving us for the Zoo event on May 8th I dealt craps at one of their mock casinos. I enjoy these events because the activity and talking doesn't stop for 4 hours. It's like juggling only I'm doing it with 15 people, chips and dice. Cathy does not enjoy me doing these events. The evening went quickly.

Afterwards I stopped by Kroger to buy pullups for Noah and beer for me. At the checkout I had an epiphany and looked up at the cashier with a laugh and said "looks like I'm not planning on getting up from the couch tonight." Smilies were shared by all.

Recovery

I came home rather bushed and wanted to get my sound system checked out for tonight's event. However, after a relaxing bath I found the couch all too inviting. Amy was napping, the Sirens on the Couch called and Cathy joined me for a refreshing nap.

Tommy

Then I had to pick Tommy up from school. On the way there, I played phone tag with one of my recruiters that wants me in a phone interview tomorrow morning. Tommy came out complaining of a headache and the urge to throw up so I recommended we not go to Star and instead go to the doctor's office. He immediately felt better (I still believe he is down and I think Cathy nailed it with "allergies"). Arriving at Star I warned the instructor that Tommy was "edgy."

After handing him off to the Star staff, I began 45 minutes of phone calls from the car. I confirmed with the recruiter that the phone interview would not intefere with the 11:30 IEP Cathy and I have with the school (if it goes badly, we may be looking at creating a class action lawsuit..what fun!). During the call the recruiter told me the interview was not really for the company he mentioned in the voicemail, but for a different company going through the first one. This raised a problem as my other recruiter has been pushing me in the 2nd company and it could look bad for me to be "double dipping." Often hiring managers simply discard candidates that come to the same job from 2 different sources. I called my main recruiter and confirmed some details with him them began phone tag with the other to try to make sure it was truly a different position. Slipped a phonecall into the wife at some point there too.

Tommy did good on his ride threatening to throw up only once. The instructor nipped it in the bud explaining the social inappropriateness of talking about the urge to vomit and suggested that he simply say he is not feeling well and end class early. He quit talking about it.

On the way home I was pulling in for gas. Tommy says, "I need air." So I stop the car in the road and tell Tommy, "Get out." He gets out and leaves the car do open so I can't drive out of traffic. I holler at him to close the door. Then I pull around the grassy median to park opposite of where I dropped Tommy off. When I see Tommy, rather than getting into the grassy part of the median he has sat on the curb, laid back in the grass and extended his legs and feet out into the road. I stop the car and yell at him to get out of the road. As he's standing there I am talking to him and he just bends over and empties his stomach of the 20 ounce (.6 liter) bottle of Gatorade he drank earlier. This is a skill Tommy can do on demand so you never know if he's up to something or really sick. I instruct him to go to a safer spot in the median with a nice manhole cover to sit on then I move the car to get gas. I look back and Tommy is spread eagle lying on his back in the grass! I holler at him "get up or I'll call an ambulance!" The guys on the adjacent pump are confused but watching the whole scene. The station attendant happens to be passing by me to help another customer as I start to call Cathy and scolds me explaining that I cannot make a phone call due to federal law; I almost told him where he could shove the federal law or my cell phone, his choice.

Tommy and I make it home without any further incident and he is told to take a bath..brief whining then he goes.

Another Win

After dropping Tommy off I run to McDonald's but have to stop for cash first. Instead of using an ATM I turn in my instant lottery ticket for the $35 winning. I decide to use $5 to buy another ticket. While waiting for my food at McDonald's I check the ticket and win $10! I'm 2 for 2! I can certainly understand how people get addicted to this kind of game.

I bring the food home for the kids and rapidly get ready for my evening.

Clown Day

Made it to Rocky Hill School by 8:30 and was setup, practicing and ready to go. A little rubber cement on my nose and a good fresh coat on the red ping pong ball assured that I'd have some laughs from the kids by throwing the ping pong ball up and catching it on my nose then balancing it there and taking a bow with the ball still on my nose.

The newspaper was there and I'll be quoted in Wednesday's Living section.

I began teaching first grader's how to juggle. Of the many things that the phrase "herding cats" fits with this is certainly one! It's much fun!

This was Rocky Hill's 24th Clown Day. In Knoxville, apparently this is the only school the Ringling Brothers and Barney and Bailey Clowns visit. They always do a remarkable job and I enjoy getting to speak with them.

After teaching the children for an hour and 15 minutes or so the clowns showed up and did an outstanding performance with dogs, juggling, an acordian and remarkable bubbles blown with their hand.

The kids left for lunch and I got to speak with the clowns briefly (always a thrill). Then Amy and Cathy showed up and we got to interact with the clowns briefly until we started to get in the shot that the news was trying to film (we exited quickly at that point and joined Noah for lunch). Amy did good with the clowns. She didn't seem scared as much as she did the bashful routine she does with strangers.

After lunch I found the first graders had started the next round of activites early so I rushed in to teach my next group. Obviously they were sugared up. The pre-lunch crowd was more focused on learning; the post-lunch crowd just wanted to throw things. There were several students that with some 1 on 1 time I could have had juggling 3 balls in no time flat.

During one of the breaks I actually got some guys and juggled all 5 of my crystal balls. It was beautiful. My pattern seemless. When I did mess up the rubberized gymnasium floor gracefully caught the crystal balls. I did a much better job than I expected. It looks like I'm juggling bubbles when I do it. Must add to the performance!

I enjoy Clown Day very much!

Nooooo! I didn't win the PowerBall!!! My early retirement!

Amy sitting in my lap eatting a doughnut and chatting away. What a pleasure!

Amy is up and playing happily. I need to leave in 20 minutes and I'm not bathed, dressed (nor do I know what I am wearing), and my gear is not in place. I am unpracticed, un-mic'd, and nervous. I know I will excell. I always do. I need to give my art more daily attention and my gear needs freshening (new decoration, some replacements, etc). I should have 7 balls down by now but to do that I need to order roughly $50 in smaller bean bags.

I think I need to wake the wife.

A New Day!

Let's start the day off with a PayPal donation link:


This Morning
Stressing. I really should wake the wife and ask for her help. I need to stretch. Body sore. I should have laid my clothes out last night. My juggling gear should have already been in order. I go to bed too early and sleep too late all the time!

Blast my memory. A mom at Krispy Creme said we could take the report cards somewhere else for something else free.

Must do's! Juggle and teach juggling at the school for clown day (morning and mid afternoon). (late afternoon) Prepare for casino tonight; ie. refresh my mind on terminology, test wireless mic with small speakers. Submit a resume. (evening) Mock casino; deal craps.

Last Night
I took Noah to soccer and practiced juggling. I went around the bend so that the kids couldn't see me and be distracted. I still had enough of a view to be able to tell Noah to pay attention and ask him to quick karate kicking the other players (the 7 yr old boys love that game!).

Came home and prompted Tommy to get out of the tub which was a task. Spent time in bed talking to wife and eatting ice cream and watching Futurama.

I won!

Ok. TN got the PowerBall this week so yesterday I bought 5 computer quick picks. Today I got a card because I wanted to hand pick a couple of numbers (I'm not going to regularly play). I also bought a scratch and win card. If I am reading this right, my scratch and win card just paid me $35! That puts me up $29 on the TN lottery so far :)

Tired. Very successful trip downtown. Got lots of brochures for the zoo event, got questions answered about how to get tags for the car where we lost the title (which isn't in our name), got addresses for all new businesses in the area over the past 2 weeks, collected my thoughts with a walk in the park, visited the Chamber of Commerce, cooked lunch, watched the History of Niagra (not all of the show); and am tired.

Knoxville gets #9 on the list of AllegeryAllergy Capitals

Amy is up. Cathy slept through her crying--I suspect tylenol sleep aid was necessary last night. I wish she could sleep better. Our friend Tim has suggested some exercises. She should get more details from him.

When I went down to get Amy she was yelling (gleefully) and jumping up and down in the crib. Her feet must have been grabbing 10cm (4 inches) of air! She is in a talkative fun mood as is typical in the mornings. She makes my day!

As I get her out of the crib, we take a moment to study what's in the crib and she decides "nite nite" (her words for her blankie). Her ritual is that one thing must leave the crib with her. Out of the crib she takes a moment to identify the dog "Luscy" (Lucy) and "Mama, nite nite" (Mama is asleep).

She was wearing my house slippers (looking goofy as a clown) and saying "Dada shoes. Dadas shoes."

Dog gone this girl is smart! She was crying for a cookie so I gave her dry cereal instead and she was standing in front of the utensil drawer and started asking for a spoon. "Dada, a sfoon. Dada, a sfoon."

She is now in her play house yammering away. She spilled some cereal and cried out "Dada, a pill!" so I ran the rescue and put the pieces of cereal that spilled back into the bowl and she was quite happy.

I could go on and on. She is so much fun to be around!

A New Day!

Let's start the day off with a PayPal donation link:


This Morning
Amy awoke at 12:30am and I couldn't get her to settle. I tried putting her back in her bed after holding her and returning the lost pacifier, blankie (she calls it her "nite nite"), and juice but that nor the crib worked. She lay with Cathy and I for a half an hour then I moved her to the crib. She didn't sleep well because she was up at 6 (I think she went back down) even though I turned the alarm off before it went off. Even though I frequently get up before the alarm, I still want one of these by Harris Communications.

I so wanted to sleep in today. I'm sorta thankful that I have responsibilities that make me get up. I wish I could get back to getting up and exercising. If we had carpet and it was kept clean, I would be more likely to do my stretching every morning and evening.

I am getting really strung. I have to get the art computer working again. I have to do finances today. I have to spend all day juggling. I really need to rent the snake for the pipes. I would like to help Cathy run around and empty the Project Linus boxes (Sarah says the one at school is full again).

Gave Noah Claritin again. I can't tell if he is getting the sniffles or is having allergies again. He's so laid back that it doesn't seem to bother him either way.

The wife and I were just talking about the infamous "cough test" done in high school with the boys. She says "Nah! That didn't happen" and I assured her that one day we went into the school nurses office 5 boys at a time where we were told to drop our pants and "cough." I clearly remember the boy in front of me being asked "please move it to the left."

Still don't know what the test was for but its not a memory that fades easily. The wife says "you were sexually abused!"

Another documented related story.

The Jeep is fixed! Pictures later perhaps...

I started to work on the Jeep only to realize I needed to go buy an E-12 torx socket to be able to do this. Headed out, bought the tool, picked up my special order lightbulbs for the bedroom, then went to Tommy's school and checked him out for his psychologist appointment. We went to the psychologist and I wrote a letter to Amy then met with the doctor and Tommy briefly, then played with my phone until the battery low warning came on. After the psychologist I took Tommy to the eye glass place to fix the glasses he broke in an attempt to get out of doing homework. Turns out his frames are discontinued so the warantee is no good anymore. They fixed them with a piece that is close to the existing one. His next trip in will be for brand new glasses (start putting away another $200). We went home so Tommy could yell as his mom some and have lunch. Considered keeping Tommy home but I took him back to school (which is what I really wanted to do because of his surliness and to see how he would handle the rest of the day). Then I returned home and bummed around until I finally motivated myself to get out and work on the Jeep. Once I started the work was easy going and I now have a greasy starter to take to Autozone for testing and replacement.

Heading out now.

Amy the sweet thing has discovered pleasure in sleeping in a toddler bed. She now wakes up and plays with her toys.

I heard her ranting so I went and opened the door. This morning she had difficulty getting to her toys and she was saying over and over "toy! toy! toy!" so I pulled them out a little and left the door open. Instead of following me out, she decided to play with her toys. Very big girl!

The kids are off. Amy is remarkably still asleep. The wife is in dreamland.

My anxiety is up with mixed feelings on what I should be doing. a) fix Jeep (this is like a keystone. If I fix it, it will aid me in many other activities) b) clean office and garage c) program d) go rent the snake to fix the bathroom sink

Ugh. I'm just dreading getting to work on the Jeep. I don't know why. It's the kind of thing I enjoy. I'd enjoy it more if my tools were organized and the garage were not such a stye.

A New Day!

Let's start the day off with a PayPal donation link:


This Morning
Didn't want to get up. The first alarm isn't going off. I suspect the volume has been turned down. Time to order an alarm clock from Harris Communication.

Todo: Put new starter in Jeep. Stressing over getting the office and paper work in order faster. Need to be soliciting new work.

Last Night
Spent quality time with the wife. Talked about babies.

They deserve another plug!

Planning some travel? Some associates of mine have launched Kapuni Global Hotel Reservations for cheaper travel! Try Kapuni today!

See the Kapuni Blog today!

Support group went really well. I had a good time leading it. I like leading groups. I'd make a good project manager. Not nearly the turn out I had expected but a great meeting that was very helpful to a new visitor.

Came home tried but stimmed. Time to help the wife then settle to collect my thoughts and regroup for the evening.

Key dates are here for bills. Time is tight for preparing for performances.

Sometime between 1991 and 2001, a regional sector of the North American Aerospace Defense Command simulated a foreign hijacked airliner crashing into a building in the United States as part of training exercise scenario, a NORAD spokesman said Monday. ie. Everyone knew it was coming...no one knew what to do about it.

Amy up. Kids done homework. Tommy worked in yard.

My head is swimming. I can't wait for this evening to be done.

Cathy left for her meeting. I had a phone call and found out I'm in the pool for another job possibility with yet another company that I'm familar with. That puts me in active consideration with 3 companies and a total of 5 positions. My new Motorola v400 is already exhibiting some Gremlin like behaviors that are irritating me. I have the Midas touch for electronics. I love them! I know how to do fantastically cool things with them. But they melt with my touch!

Noah and Sarah are home. I need a nap.

Limos

So you think that Hummer turned into a lengthy limosine looks cool? Check out this 747 turned into Limo! (unfortunately, no picture)

Zero Tolerance or George Orwellian High School

Zero tolerance raises alarms "Parents say Katy ISD overdisciplining students for minor offenses" and I'd have to agree.

Bing and other faculty members greet the students as they lift up their shirts and pants, empty their pockets and take off their shoes...

Sounds to me like some faculty are getting their jollies.

Certainly doesn't sound like school is a fun place to get an education. This article makes it sound more like training for institutionalization.

So I wonder if I could pull $250k in a year working in Iraq? ...And live to tell about it.

Politically Incorrect Humor

Two Arabs are sitting in the Gaza strip chatting over a pint of goat's milk.

One pulls his wallet out and starts flipping through pictures and they start reminiscing.

"This is my oldest son. He's a martyr."

"Here's my second son. He's a martyr too!"

After a pause and a deep sigh, the second Arab says wistfully, "They blow up so fast, don't they?"

Jeep manual found! Also a horde of other great books!

Tomorrow the Jeep gets a new starter and I take all the construction debris in the driveway to the dump!

Yes! Got some cleaning done (put things away not thrown away). And reorganized in the bedroom to better understand what is in our mystery boxes. Identified several to grow through and throw stuff away while everyone else is asleep.

Found some of my books that I've been looking for (magic books, music tablature etc) but still not the Jeep manual.

Time to update the list of missing things:

Things I can't find:
- my house keys
- the bathroom caulk
- the two caulk guns
- my mind
- a job
- me
- the Haynes manual to fix the Jeep
- time
- most of my tools
- my sunglasses
- fingernail clippers (neither of the two)

Got my chi tea and am trying to settle into something.
Bouncing between files and job apps. Must focus on one!

More Robotics in the news. Military applications of course. This time a robotic airplane that takes off, drops a bomb and lands without human intervention (except to authorize the drop).

Mom rises! I'm heading down to the dungeon to find work. I have to repair the art computer asap.

Recording Amy's voice was so fun I had to do it again.

Another funny 404

Amy rants "MOm MEE!" and now climbs into my lap to help at the computer. Wow! 5 sneezes! Earlier she said "Dada type" and "Dada's [d]rink" and "frog frog frog" and "redip reedip". She just now almost dropped my coffee mug and surprisedily (such a word?) said sharply "Whoa!" Yuck! She is spitting into my coffee mug! OH! No she is saying "Hot" and blowing into the empty mug!

I recorded Amy's voice and just played it back for her and she got surprised and silenced, stood on my lap, leaning toward the computer, listened for a second said "who dat?" listened some more then said "dat me!"

Blind Blog "One of the first steps to becoming a guide dog instructor is to spend ten days blindfolded..." What a cool concept! I've tried covering just one eye for a weekend and found it incredibly difficult!

Thanks to MetaFilter where I found the link!

Just gave Amy some toast with grape jam on it and she touched it to her mouth and declared "Oh!"

Amy has climbed into her high chair, put her seat belt on and is trying hard to get the buckle to work. I guess she is hungry.

I gave her some dry cereal in a bowl and she cheerily said "thank yoooou!"

Tantrum ended when I went near her to clean up a spill that went unnoticed from last night.

She looked up and say "Dada er you doing?"

Now she is staring at the cat saying "Eeeww Eeeww"

I wish I could record her all day!

So much for the good mood. I just threw the baby into a royal tantrum. She had a piece of paper and I didn't know if it was important or not so I took it away. It got mangled in the process. I should have asked for it as she would have given it over. Handled it very wrong.

"Here's da da's phone!" (pointing to my cell phone on hip)

more energy
"Dada phone"

louder and higher energy
"Here dada's phooone!"

I started bouncing my legs with Amy on my lap and sang "bum bumb bum bum dum bum bum" and she looks up at me making eye contact, covers my mouth with her tiny hand and says "Da da. Stop!"

Wow Amy is so talkative this morning! She has given a strong hug. Grab an incredibly firm pat on my leg to get my attention and tell me she wanted in my lap. Is giving nice kisses and keeps telling me about her "cereal."

Hehe. She just identified a yellow circle on a poster on the fridge as "look daddy, a moon!"

She is such a pleasure. I can't put into words how good it feels to have this little person sit on my lap as I type this.

Amy says "Dada! Ceriel[sic]"

I just changed the messiest diaper I've ever had. Ok. "Messiest" isn't right. "Gross" would be better. It was like dried spinach on her cheeks with fresh spinach juice running out the legs of the diaper down to the backs of both knees. Yuck!

hehe! I got scolded (in a happy way). Amy was behind Sarah's door playing with her magnetic calendar when I opened the door disturbing her play and she smiles, looks up at me with those beautiful blue eyes and says "Daaa Da!" as if saying "Hey! I was doing something."

I forgot to mention that last night when I came upstairs to investigate a noise, I found Amy asleep in a fetal position with her rump in the air and cheek on the hardwood floor. I felt so bad. I wanted hardwoods for the ease of cleaning and their beauty but with kids it doesn't seem very practical. Now I can't afford carpet. I must work harder!

Anyhow, when I came up I disturbed the cat on a hunt. We obviously have a mouse in the kitchen (I've found evidence). I know where it lives and the cat does too. She is staring down the gap in the cabinets where the mouse enters and exits. The cat must have been on alert all night long. Earn your keep cat!

Amy is awake.

A New Day!

Let's start the day off with a PayPal donation link:


This Morning
Had trouble getting to sleep last night. At 1am I finally drifted off. I was torn between sleep and staying up and cleaning. I knew if I stayed up the morning would be hellish but the productivity would have been great.

Got up on the 2nd bell at 6am. Never heard the first bell. I suspect the volume has been turned down.

Expectations. Are they wrong? I keep a reading light on a specific spot on the head board of our bed. That way if I need light in the night I can reach up and grab in and in seconds I can have light. This reading light keeps getting "cleaned" and this morning it was so well hidden that I had to turn on the overhead light, disturbing the wife's sleep, to find it. My wife has an expectation to not have a cluttered headboard (really a built in book case at the head of the bed). So how do we find a happy medium here? Simple answer. She needs to pick a spot that she likes the reading light to be and I need to know where the spot is.

Duke University Cuts 8 A.m. Classes

Duke University is eliminating 8 a.m. classes and trying to come up with other ways help its sleep-deprived students, who too often are struggling to survive on a mix of caffeine, adrenaline and ambition.

Now if only we can get businesses to do the same!

Foiled al-Qaida Attackers Caught Red-Handed With WMDs

Two members of an al-Qaida cell connected to top terror master Abu Musab al-Zarqawi have been caught in Jordan with chemical weapons and poisonous gas for a planned attack that Jordanian officials say would have killed up to 20,000 people.

The discovery of the al-Qaida WMD plot is sure to renew speculation that some of Saddam Hussein's missing weapons of mass destruction were hidden in Syria before the U.S. attacked in March 2003, and have now found their way into al-Qaida's hands.

The LoftCube Project A interesting take on living in the cities.

Must stay away from the wife tonight.

Morning was spent typing and blogging.
Afternoon was spent at the inlaws with Cathy's brother, his wife and kids. A good time was had by all.
Evening was spent accomplishing nothing but irritating the wife.

I have so much in my head that I want to type. I could happily spend the rest of the day blogging, journaling and composing.

I also could happily spend the rest of the day cleaning and throwing stuff away.

She says..he hears

She says: "Why haven't you gotten the paper?"

He retorts: "I haven't been outside yet."

She ponders.

She says: "I wonder if Sarah's glasses got returned [to the mailbox] last night."

He hears: "Get your lazy ass out and get the paper! Bring in the glasses while you are at it!"

He submits.

They have happy marriage!

"The secret to a happy life is a happy wife!"

A New Day!

Let's start the day off with a PayPal donation link:


This Morning
The alarm clock went off at some ungodly hour. I never recovered a deep sleep after that.

7something Tommy begins drumming on the walk for attention. It's one of his announcing techniques: "I'm awake but I don't want to bring my medicine to down to you."

I decide to get some coffee going and give Tommy his medicine. He either returns to sleep or lounges in bed. Half an hour later Amy is playing happily in the room she shares with Sarah. A bit later I decide to open the door and she looks up at me from her sitting position in her toy box with Toy's piled all over her as if to say "what? I'm busy" so I leave the door open and return to Blogshares and she continues to play finally emerging 20-30 minutes later. What a happy well-rounded confident child!

Tommy rises and watches Amy while I bath. The wife is up shortly after and I decend into the basement for blogging, mental review of yesterday, planning for today, and coffee!

Cathy returned home and the boys and I went to UT to watch the Orange and White game with their grandfather and uncle.

I wasn't really looking forward to this as I'm not sports buff but I do enjoy watching the game. However, this event turned out to be a very special treat. In college I was a huge fan and went to all the games. I never went down on the field. This was my first time ever on the grass. It was pretty cool. I stood as center in the stadium as I could (players were signing autographers dead center) and imagined myself as a football player. Funny thing is all I could imagine is how fun it would be to be playing the game and the rest would seem so irrelevant. I remember playing shirtless, tackle football as a teenager. It felt good.

We let the kids run all over the stadium unattended. I was never nervous and they handled themselves well. Tommy eventually got bored and started being mean to his brother so he was separated. Bill let Tommy hold the money then would let the kids run around the stadium and after they left would remember "oh! Tommy's got the money!" which was quite humorous. Despite frequent restroom breaks Noah still wet his pants. I don't understand why or when it happened. He did have a 20 oz Coke which was probably a mistake but there weren't many other options.

We returned home and I had a moment of upset with Tommy for his rudeness and sent him to chill out on the porch and I got mad at Noah for lying about his pants. He doesn't understand that I don't get upsetting over the wetting of the pants but I get furious over lying. I need to take a lighter approach with all the kids. Overall I have backed off tremendously but I still have my moments.

A moment of forgetfulness
Just a note on parking. Right now we park the station wagon (which is beginning to have a transmission problem) in a gravel parking space level with the road in the front side yard. The Jeep (which has a dead starter) gets parked at the top of the driveway so that I can roll it down the hill, pop the clutch and get the engine going. Right now, we are borrowing one of Cathy's parents cars because they insisted I have something that started with a key for my last business trip (we haven't returned it yet because its been convenient and I want to wash it); that car moves twice a day. In the morning it blocks the station wagon so that the postman can get to the mailbox; in the afternoon it blocks the mailbox so that the station wagon can be used. Having it in the road has reducing the amount of traffic using our cove as a turn-a-round. Yesterday that car was parked in the grass in the middle of the cove.

After Cathy and Amy returned we had a break then loaded everyone back into the car. Started the Jeep and parked it on the other side of the loaner car in the grass (engine running of course or it wouldn't move again until I put a starter in it). We backed the station wagon down the driveway and attached the trailer then sped off to try to go to Sam's Wholesale club. Cathy realized that most things we would buy would be frozen and that it was a silly trip so we re-routed to meet her mother at Lowe's where she was buying a new grill. We decided to make a quick stop at Walmart for dry goods which proved a convenient rest stop for Noah then met Cathy's mother at Lowe's and secured the new grill in the Jeep. About .4 kilometers (1/4 mile) from Lowe's a piece of the grill blew off. Fortunely Cathy's mom was behind us and recovered the piece. Even more fortunately it did not hit her car. I am still furious with myself for allowing it to happen. I'm a much more skilled mover than that to make such a stupid mistake. The damage was superficial and to a hidden part so it is kinda irrelevant. We visited with Cathy's brother and sister in law (in town for the weekend) and her parents briefly then headed home. We arrived home and backed the trailer down the driveway, parked the station wagon then moved the Jeep back from the center of the cove to its position at the top of the driveway note: It sat in the middle of the road with the keys in the iginition and the engine running for about 4 hours unattended! Thank goodness we live in a low crime area!

Was too exhausted to do anything productive or even recreational and just passed out. Tis a shame as it was "Nosy Neighbor Awareness Day" and I could think of a couple of adult activities in the front and/or back windows or out on the trampoline that would have made for a fun celebration of just such a day!

Home after taking Amy and the boys to soccer. The grandparents where there with Cathy's brother, his wife and their 2 children. Fun time was had by all and even Tommy did not complain much about having to do his school work.

Amy down for a nap. Wish I could have one.

A New Day!

Let's start the day off with a PayPal donation link:


This Morning
Todo: Take Noah to soccer, Go to UT's Orange and White Game, work on house, work on cars, visit with relatives, play with new phone whenever possible.

Last Night
After dropping Cathy and Amy off at the house, I switched cars (this one has only stalled in traffic twice). Went to the lighting store to get our special halogen buibs for the bedroom but they were out. Spent a good deal of time discussing lighting of the house with the outside sales rep. When Cathy gives the ok, she will stop by the house and we will make a plan (similar to what I'm going to do with a landscaper). She also gave me a referral to a landscaper. From there I went to Cingular and griped fruther about how they made me suffer with terrible phones and I ended up walking out with two Motorola v400 phones! Wahoo! From there I went to Bi-lo for potatoes (for the kids potatoe guns) and ended up buying salmon and shrimp for dinner.

Had a terrific evening of fish, phones and fun!

New Airport Game! For the bored traveler you know have the ability to entertain yourself for hours. Compete against other travellers and have government paid referees determine the winner!

At the security checkpoints, screening supervisors have a score sheet with a list of behaviors on it. If a passenger hits a certain number, a law enforcement officer will be notified to question the person.

Be the first on your flight to get questioned and win a free layover!

Took wife and baby downtown to pickup circus tickets; Amy slept. Had car trouble on the way back (transmission could be dying == $1500+- probably + or it could be a fluid problem). Went to Joanne's and Gina's to drop off Project Linus boxes. Went to Smart Toys (someone tell them I can fix their webpage) for a birthday present and Amy woke to get to play. Returned home to find our latchkey keys know how to get into the house.

Conversation with Tommy's teacher transcribed. Our phone systems should do this automatically! The technology is advanced enough. It's silly that we don't have automatic transcriptions of all phone conversations and meetings. And I don't mean recordings. I mean electronic editable, searchable text documents.

I feel like I need a refund of several years of my life for all the wasted time documenting conversations with employees, covering my ass documentation, and documenting political meetings with places like the school system.

Home phone systems should automatically produce electronic transcripts for logging purposes.

Fort Campbell officer robs bank, surrenders Iraq sounds like such a fun place.

...soldier who police say robbed a bank and then surrendered just wanted to go to jail, Keokuk police said. "He told us he couldn't take it any more," ...

...fired a large caliber handgun into the air and demanded cash...
...climbed into his pickup truck and drove to the police department, where he turned himself in...
...the first one-story bank he had come across...
...was going to fire shots in the air and didn't want to hurt anybody...
...left the handgun in his truck...
...so police wouldn't shoot at him and so he wouldn't have to return fire...

"Our main mission was to provide a secure environment to facilitate the rebuilding of the central government services," Cate said. "We lost 58 soldiers in one year."

Wahoo! One more cover letter and resume sent. This for an IT Web Master Database Marketing Expert position. You have to love titles like that!

Ooops. Just noticed the cover letter I sent to the insurance company had the POB of the last company that the template was used for. I just gave them a strong reason to circular file my resume!

Wahoo! Submitted a cover letter and resume to a local insurance company that specifically asked for ColdFusion!

Ran to Kinko's for more boxes. They'll have even more this evening if we want them.

Went to Cingular and paid $128 cell phone bill. Stared at phones, drooled, dilerated, left without a new phone.

Went to United Printing and got more boxes. One of Noah's scout buddy's (Will) Dad (Jeff) runs the business!

Returned home. Working on cover letter. My cover letters suck.

Scientists find new face on Turin shroud

Deane Hill man wins case with MPC The neighborhood of elitists is in the news again. After failing to close of roads used as "shortcuts" through their neighborhood, they now choose to attack a neighborhood that has run an accounting business from his home for 5 years.

Rare whales spotted for first time in 20 years. Giant cigarette-shaped thing now moving away from earth Thanks Fark

Women plan to protest as topless barber shop opens Aw come on! We are staring at them anyway! Why not uncover them?! I've wanted a topless barber shop since I was 12!

Ray Bradbury praises Pres. Bush's space plan; also says to ignore that gremlin on the plane wing looking in at you Too many good headlines by Fark today.

Sony's new 25 GB Blu-Ray Disc made of paper. Finally, we can smoke our video games Thanks to Fark for the headline.

a magnetic motor that consumed almost no electricity This sounds like it belongs in The Museum of Unworkable Devices (see the original post for earlier comments).

Thanks to My Likes and Dislikes for the link.

GW Bush

Tom Tomorrow on the President's speech --- I'm speechless!

Thanks to Whoa Mama! for the link.

Every sounds like a lie

Thanks to My Likes and Dislikes for the link.

The Out-of-TownerWhile Bush vacationed, 9/11 warnings went unheard. By Fred Kaplan Posted Wednesday, April 14, 2004, at 4:54 PM PT

Tenet replied, "I was not in briefings at this time." Bush, he noted, "was on vacation." He added that he didn't see the president at all in August 2001.

A New Day!

Let's start the day off with a PayPal donation link:


This Morning
Woke at 6:06! Whoa! Rushed upstairs to get the kids moving and prodded Tommy into getting dressed and doing math work. Ticked Sarah off by making her look at her day planner ( "I thought I only had to do that on Monday's!" ); trying to instill time management skills in her is going to be a royal pain ( "I don't check things off. I erase them when I'm done. If I don't erase them, well, I KNOW I've done it." ) Quizzed Noah briefly on his spelling words.

Carpooler wasn't ready either. Talked to Noah and Sarah in the car asking "so what do you do at your friends' houses when you spend the night." Sarah gives a brief answer followed quickly by "can we turn on the radio."

Amy certainly has a lot to say this morning.

Last Night/Afternoon
Picked Tommy up at school. I called him at 3:08 to tell him that I was on my way and he should not get on the bus. 15 minutes later I arrive at the school and he is still in the classroom unattended. The lady at the front desk was even taken back.

Tommy and I drove to the West Knoxville Travel Bug Hotel to find that the brandnew logbook has indeed disappeared. I hate vandals.

I then when to a cloth store and got permission for us to put out a box for Project Linus.

Tommy and I made it to STAR where he did very well.

On our return we stopped at Michael's and dropped off a letter for the management to see if we can leave a Project Linus box there. Then we went to Joanne's Etc and got permission to leave a box there.

For dinner we went to Rafferty's and ordered 3 racks of ribs to go. While they were preparing it, Tommy and I drove around. He declared "Let's go in Fantasy World!" (thinking it was a magic store) so I explained that it was a place that sold ladies underwear and dirty books and he changed his tune to "Let's put them out of business" so we had a brief discussion on captialism, morals and right from wrong. In the end he said, "ok. I just won't shop there" which was a great conclusion for him to draw. We went to Lowe's and looked at plumbing snakes and flowers. Happened to drive past a strip club on the way and because of Tommy's over reaction to the adult store and "not liking girls" I used it as an example to explain "it's ok to like girls. Some guys pay money to see girls take their clothes off" and left it brief not wanting to go into details except to mention that its very expensive. We picked up our ribs, headed to Weigel's for 2 gallons of milk, then home to enjoy a great meal.

Evening was battling with Tommy to actually complete some work. Then Cathy and I watched some Kingdom Hospital and fell into a deep sleep.

  

Cover letter drafted. Baby awoken. Cover letter and resume will be sent tonight.

Reassembled plumbing with Amy's help. It still backed up. I need to rent a more serious 2" snake (50.8mm) OR call in a plumber. Hmm...

I need to get dressed for errands.

Blast. Baby awakes. I'm so close! I need a few more minutes.

Planning some travel? Some associates of mine have launched Kapuni Global Hotel Reservations for cheaper travel! Try Kapuni today!

Made a new business contact and impressed by referring him to a friend of mine (friend thankful). Good karma all around.

Sent updated resume to both recruiters and new business contact.

Cleaned sink. Now ready to reassemble pipes.

Cooked BLTs...did I wash my hands?

Still can't get ms word working on this machine. Where's that software?!

Just snaked the pipes in the upstairs bathroom. I hope it was sufficient. I'd really like to go in with a rented one that would do a better job. I may schedule that for a weekend once a year and just snake all the pipes.

Before I can reassemble the pipes I have one more length of pipe I want to clean out. Long blonde hair all over the place...hmmm.. I suspect I'll be snaking the pipes frequently for the next couple of decades.

Rant

Indian tribes sue to reclaim about a third of Colorado, but will settle for a single casino Thanks Fark for the headline!
I think this is ridiculous. Some of these Indian's asking for their land back are about as much Indian as I am Irish. Well the Irish were screwed in America too! I want justice. The Irish built most of Knoxville. I want a third of Knoxville but I'll settle for a nice office building!
Other stories like Cherokees get coveted Smokies land where the Great Environmentalist GW Bush gave 143 acres for the purpose of building schools (you watch how quickly the schools become casinos) irritate me to no end. Yes! Part of the construction of the Blue Ridge Parkway was an agreement that the lands would be handed over but over time I think the value of the National Park as a natural resource outweights the necessity to honor that deal and that compensation should have been made in other ways. Besides, all my maps are screwed now. There are also vast treasures to be found in the Smokies for the outdoor adverturer that gains the skills and permission to go off trail. Cabins can still be found with tables set, watches in place etc just as if someone had been living in them yesterday. Taking land from the Smokies destroys such history not to mention the environmental impact from the construction vehicles and human habitation of that 143 acres. It was an idiotic move.

Off the Wagon

I'm having a full pot of coffee today!

Look! Jobs I can do in Iraq!

EMW has an immediate need for a Network Engineer to support US Military operations in Iraq.

ok. I think giving anyone that works in an IT department a "gun" is a bad idea!

Conduct interrogations, pre-brief and debrief preparation which includes researching, compiling, and preparing supporting material; prepare all-source target overview/summaries to include cultural, religious, and sociological factors; and identify information required for immediate processing and dissemination including support to ongoing and planned operations and force protection.
Category: Computers, Software

TN Delivers Live Weapons to Oklahoma (aka Lowe's Customer Bitten by Rattlesnake)

The snake probably made its way to Broken Arrow with the trees, which were shipped in from Tennessee.

Osama bin Laden wants to make a deal with Europe

"It is completely unthinkable that we could start negotiations with bin Laden. Everyone understands that," Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini told reporters.